Descent
by Titan of Saturn
Summary: Third in the Cold Oak AU Series, sequel to Haunted and Nightmare. 'Stop. Rewind. Play Again. This is how it goes.' AU series where Jess didn't die that night, and Sam gets caught up in the mechina of Azazel's psychic contest. Spoilers for AHBL part 1.


I do not own Supernatural, its affiliates, or its characters. Spoilers for All Hell Breaks Loose, parts one and two. Some language and violence.

Third in the Cold Oak AU Series. Sequel to _Haunted_ and _Nightmare_, which should be read before this.

* * *

Descent

* * *

_Stop. Rewind. Play Again._ It goes like this.

Sam woke up to the sound of someone yelling: "Hello! Is anybody there?"

He told them about demons and spirits and the things that went bump in the night. He told them he was a hunter (not a Law student, not now, not anymore, maybe never again) and a psychic and why they were here. He didn't tell them there was no way out. He couldn't watch what it did to them.

_Stop. Rewind. Play Again._

Sam woke up to the sound of someone yelling: "Hello! Is anybody there?"

He told them about demons and spirits and the things that went bump in the night. He told them he was a hunter (not a Law student, not now, not anymore, never again) and a psychic and why they were here. He told them there was no way out.

They didn't believe him. It was almost worse.

_Stop. Rewind. Play Again._

"I need a soldier." The thing wearing Dad's face told him, stretching John Winchester's lips wide into a terrifying grin. "A _human_ soldier, one with powers; like you, like any of the children out there like you." The inhuman yellow eyes glowed in the darkness of Sam's dreamscape. "And you're all going to fight each other for the spot. A fight to the death, and nobody leaves until there's only one person left standing. I'm rooting for you, Sam."

And Sam woke up to the sound of someone yelling: "Hello! Is anybody there?"

_Stop. Fast Forward. Play Again._ It starts like this.

Sam wasn't sleeping. It was the middle of the day. Why would he sleep when it was light out? When it was light out was when he had to make sure he ate and drank. The food and water replenished itself, and Sam had spent an agonizing two weeks trying to track that process, trying to use it as a way out. It had only gotten more people killed.

Sam was awake when he heard someone yelling: "Hello! Is anybody here?"

He was awake when someone answered the yell with: "Hello? I'm here! Where is here?" Sam walked out to meet them.

He told them about demons and spirits and the things that went bump in the night. He told them he was a hunter (not a Law student, not now, not anymore, never again) and a psychic and why they were here. He told them there was no way out.

They didn't believe him. Sam was used to it by now.

Things went better than usual. None of them were broken (except for Sam, but Sam had been broken long enough, knew it well enough, that he was not a threat) and none of them were killers (except Sam, but that was self-defense, he'd had no choice, he'd had no _choice_) and things didn't go to hell and a hand basket by their own convention, for the first time that Sam could remember.

Then the demons attacked. And Sam watched as every effort he made resulted in another dead body, and finally the last of the latest bunch was dead and something in Sam _snapped_, something in him couldn't take it anymore.

He walked outside his salt lines and waited to die. And the demons laughed and taunted and made to do as he wanted, and at the last second Sam remembered _"I need a soldier." The thing wearing Dad's face told him, stretching John Winchester's lips wide into a terrifying grin_ and lost his nerve, because that thing was still out there, it wasn't dead yet, and Sam had to kill it. He _had_ to, which meant he _couldn't die-_

The demon halted inches from tearing his throat out, immobile, snarling and confused, and Sam stumbled back into the protection of his salt lines, mouth open in disbelief.

Slowly, the muscles in Sam's face twitched up into a smile.

_Stop. Fast Forward. Play Again._ It ends like this.

Sam was awake when he heard someone yelling: "Hello! Is anybody there?"

It was his cue. Sam yelled: "Hello? I'm here! Hey, I'm here!" He ran out into the open, panicked. Someone calmed him down, someone else asked what the hell was going on.

Sam didn't tell them. He didn't say anything about demons and spirits and the things that went bump in the night. He told them he was a Law student (not a hunter, not now, not when telling them got them killed) and, eventually, admitted to being a psychic. He didn't tell them there was no way out. Sam the Law student, who'd just woken up here like everyone else, wouldn't know that.

_Stop. Rewind. Play Again._

Sam was awake when he heard someone yelling: "Hello! Is anybody here?"

He told them about demons and spirits and the things that went bump in the night. He told them he was a hunter (not a Law student, not now, not anymore) and a psychic and why they were here. He told them there was no way out.

They didn't believe him. Sam didn't want them to.

_Stop. Rewind. Play Again._

Sam was awake when he heard someone yelling: "Hello! Is anybody here?"

He told them about demons and spirits and the things that went bump in the night. He told them he was a hunter (not a Law student, not now, not anymore) and a psychic and why they were here. He didn't tell them there was no way out. They wouldn't believe him anyway. Sam told them he'd just woken up. He couldn't stomach _wanting_- whatever it was that he got out of them fighting against him.

_Stop. Rewind. Play Again._

Sam was exhausted when he heard someone yelling: "Hello! Is anybody there?"

He was tired. He was tired of the same thing over and over, of watching so many of them die, of _not_ dying himself, tired of being the messenger.

So he wasn't, this time. He told them he was a Law student (because what did being a hunter get him, anyway? Being a hunter got him bodies). When one of them asked if they'd ever heard of anything like this before, and one guy made a movie joke that fell flat, Sam admitted that he'd seen some of it in a vision. That he was, sort-of, psychic.

But Sam won anyway. He always did. This time, it didn't hurt quite as much.

_Stop. Rewind. Play Again._

Sam was awake when he heard someone yelling: "Hello! Is anybody here?"

Sam didn't tell them about demons and spirits and the things that went bump in the night. He told them he was a Law student (not a hunter, not now, maybe he never was) and, eventually, admitted to being a psychic. He didn't tell them there was no way out. Sam the Law student wouldn't know that.

It meant that when he was attacked for the contest, they were all invariably surprised by the skill with which he killed them.

_Stop. Rewind. Fast Forward. Play._


End file.
